Have Budweiser’s Super Bowl Puppies Ads Gone to the Dogs?

Looks like Budweiser isn’t planning to fetch those cute puppies again for its Super Bowl 50 ad campaign. The puppies have starred in Budweiser’s last two Super Bowls ad campaigns, but the beer giant is taking a more product-focused approach this year because the puppies just didn’t lap up sales. So instead of those soft and cuddly puppies, Budweiser will use a hard-hitting tactic that confidently plays up the benefits of the beer. AdAge.com shared more on this plan to breed stronger sales.

Budweiser started testing this bold, direct, product-centric approach during last year’s Super Bowl with its “Brewed the Hard Way” ad and continued throughout the year.

“Budweiser aired two very different spots in last February’s Super Bowl, and we learned that content focused on the quality of our beer was most effective in generating sales,” said Jorn Socquet, U.S. VP-marketing for A-B InBev.

With its proven success, the beer brand plans to continue this direct approach in creative new ways for its Super Bowl 50 campaign. But where last year’s ads took digs at their fancy micro-brew rivals, this year’s ads will only focus only on Budweiser’s attributes instead of making biting comparisons.

While the puppies won’t get more airplay, fans of the Clydesdale horses ads don’t need to worry because the famous horses won’t be put out to pasture. Even though they played a role in some of the puppy ads, Budweiser has no plans to rein in their iconic Clydesdale campaign.